‘Young Turks’ compare Fox’s Kilmeade to ‘adult child of an alcoholic’ for rant against Ferguson protesters

The hosts of The Young Turks slammed Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Thursday for blaming protesters in Ferguson, Missouri for the shooting of two police officers earlier that morning.

“He totally takes the focus off where it should be,” Jimmy Dore argued. “The focus should be on what’s happened over the last 30 years. Instead, it’s like an adult child of an alcoholic — instead of being angry at the people doing injustice in their community, he’s angry at the people who are reporting the injustice in the community.”

As Reuters reported, the two officers were shot during a demonstration following the resignation of Police Chief Tom Jackson.

Activists have argued that the city’s police department should be disbanded in order to help rebuild trust between local officials and the community.

While no arrests have been made in connection with the shooting, Kilmeade and his Fox & Friends co-hosts did not challenge St. Louis Police Officers Association head Jeff Roorda when he accused protesters of being involved.

“Why are you rallying at midnight outside a police station about something that happened that you should be happy about?” Kilmeade demanded. “The Justice Department just ruled in a way which, I imagine, was right up your alley. What else do you want?”

“Dead cops,” Roorda responded. “Dead cops, that’s what they want.”

Host Cenk Uygur pointed out that Kilmeade did not question the accuracy of the federal probe detailing police tactics specifically targeting Ferguson’s black community for traffic stops and arrests in order to boost the city’s revenue.

But instead of blaming police for bad police work, Uygur said, Kilmeade and colleague Andrea Tantaros were blaming Attorney General Eric Holder for bringing the truth to light.

“If we were to follow that logic one step further, Fox News obviously should never tell anyone anything bad that President [Barack] Obama’s done,” he argued. “Because then you are encouraging people to take action against the president and the government of the United States. God knows what could happen.”

About the Author

Arturo R. García is the managing editor at Racialicious.com. He is based in San Diego, California and has written for both print and broadcast media, including contributions to GlobalComment.com, The Root and Comment Is Free. Follow him on Twitter at @ABoyNamedArt